Participative public relations: Power to the people or legitimacy for government discourse?

This article adopts a Foucauldian lens to critique public relations practices that engage stakeholders in participative processes with predetermined outcomes. It contests the popular notion that the role of public relations is to minimize or diffuse conflict, arguing that such efforts are in fact manifestations of power designed to legitimate the discourses, power and positions of the dominant coalition. The analysis concentrates on attempts to transform a national economic discourse at the Catching the Knowledge Wave Conference, held in New Zealand. It illustrates how a government-university alliance deployed public relations to gain legitimacy for economic change with the business community and more generally, New Zealand citizens.